wow, I didn't mean to start all that,

anyways, I'm glad that the OP got his answer that's all that really matters,


Back to the discussion about legality:

I think that the problem with some of these laws, both federal and local, is that most of them are left slightly vague. I am not sure if they do this intentionally or not. This leave the law up to interpretation, both by people like us, and those in law enforcement.

Just because we interpret a law a certain way, doesn't mean that we are right. Guess what is going to happen when a police officer pulls you over, and he just happens to have a different view of the law than you do. You are probably going to wind up with a ticket. Yeah you can take it to court, but then you are relying on the judge's view of the law.

In addition to the laws about individual saftey equiptment, there are also some pretty broad ones that forbid you from modifying or removing saftey related stuff. Now are lights saftey equipment? You may say no, the police officer may say yes

I'm not saying that all of us with aftermarket stuff all over our rigs should go out and take it all off. I would just like to say that there is always a chance that even if you think that you are in the right, and you have done all sorts of research to prove that to yourself, in the end you could still wind up with a ticket. Now you could be one of those guys that carries copies of laws and stuff around to show the police how right you are (I'm sure they would love that). I wouldn't do that because on the side of the road isn't the place to legality debates, that is what court rooms and judges are for.

After all this, I might wind up getting clear tail lights, and if I get a ticket then I'll change 'em back or whatever. But regardless of if it's legal or not, I probably wont get a ticket unless I am doing something else that is really stupid. Police are so used to seeing honda's and whatever running around looking like whatever, that they probably aren't going to notice a toyota pickup of 4runner just because of clear tail lights.

I think it should be well known that if you start modifying, you are possibly going to break some silly laws, and just be aware of that and you'll be fine

 

I think we are starting to agree! :-)

 

I never said I didn't a agree you ( <<--now I'm disagreeing with you about that)

I just like people to know that there is a possibility that what they are doing to thier ride, may be illegal, because otherwise, a month later we get people saying "I got $200 worth of clear crap all over my ride, and now the man is giving me tickets and says it has to go" and "why didn't anyone say this was illegal"

 

The bulbs I got are very bright, so much so that I'm going to get the white ones to replace my backup lights too. Here's a couple pics:

Just with headlights on.


Headlights with break.



And as far as the legality of these lights go, I am in South Carolina, and don't drive much out of state. The law in SC clearly says that you must have red reflectors and these tails don't. However, the lights have reflectors in them, and red bulbs behind the reflectors, so when my lights are on it is just as good. Also, these bulbs are so bright that you can't really make out a reflector, or see that it's the bulbs that are colored very well from a distance anyway. Bottom line is, they work just as well or better than my stock taillights, I just accomplish with different colored bulbs what they did with different colored plastic.